Veteran participates in Honor Flight

Wednesday June 22, 2011 9:07 PM

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoLorrie Cecil/ThisWeekPaul Thurn was a member of the Army Air Corps 5th Air Force from 1944-46 and was part of the occupation force in Japan following the end of World War II. Thurn recently traveled with an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., to see the World War II memorial.

Veteran participates in Honor Flight -

At age 18, Sgt. Paul Thurn was drafted during World War II and served in what was the beginning
of the postwar occupation of Japan.

In March of 2001 Thurn, now 85, a Grove City resident, returned to Japan to visit the places at
which he was stationed, and this month he participated in the Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.,
visiting the World War II Memorial that honors veterans like himself.

Accompanied by his daughter, Monica Walters, Thurn visited Washington, D.C., for a day. Upon
arriving at Baltimore Washington International Airport, Thurn and other veterans were greeted by
military and civilians.

"Everybody was so very thankful to us for serving," Thurn recalled.

Thurn visited the World War II Memorial, the Marine War Memorial and the Air Force Memorial. He
also took a tour of the city and saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
at Arlington National Cemetery.

"I thought it was very wonderful," Thurn said.

He was a few months shy of finishing high school at Aquinas College (now the site of Columbus
State Community College) when he registered for service. He was allowed to graduate before being
drafted.

In 1944, Thurn started his service, traveling to Denver at what is now Lowry Air Force Base and
serving as a firearms instructor. After the Japanese surrendered on Aug. 14, 1945, Thurn served in
Tokyo and Nagoya in Japan as part of the Fifth Air Force of the U.S. Army Air Corps.

The war was over when he arrived in Japan, but evidence of the conflict was widespread. In
Tokyo, "there were many, many buildings that were destroyed," Thurn said.

Despite not knowing the language, Thurn was able to communicate with the Japanese.

"We didn't understand each other very well, but we conversed," Thurn said. "They were very
friendly and nice."

Upon returning home, Thurn immediately went back to work for his family's meat-processing
business, A. Thurn Sons, on Greenlawn Avenue in Columbus.

Thurn's son-in-law, U.S.Marine Corps Reserve (Ret.) Master Sgt. Steve Walter, said his
father-in-law was like many men and women of that time.

"They saw it as their duty, they did their duty and then came home to continue their lives,"
Walter said.

Walter served in Vietnam in the U.S. Air Force with the 632nd Security Police Squadron at the
Binh Thuy Air Base during the Vietnam War.

Since the World War II era, "our military ventures have lacked that clarity and resolve," Walter
said. Now, during the War on Terror, the United States is fighting an idea rather than a nation, he
said.

Walter had a chance to assist those affected by the Iraq war during his work as a casualty
assistance call officer for the U.S. Marines in Lima Company, 3rd Battalion. As a reservist, Walter
was assigned to a peacetime-wartime support team, which does community outreach.

Walter accompanied three other Marines in notifying the primary next of kin that a Marine had
died or was killed in action. While another officer in charge delivered the news, Walter contacted
the families regarding funeral arrangements.

He handled five next-of-kin contacts.

The last came after a Lima Company vehicle struck a mine on Aug. 3, 2005, killing nine Marines
in Al Anbar province in western Iraq.

As a sergeant with the Columbus Police Department, Walter said he earlier had to deliver calls
for serious injuries. "The wisdom of middle age gave me an insight in what to say when, or more
importantly, when to say nothing," he said.

Participating in the calls for the Lima Company Marines "was like taking a slice out of my arm,"
Walter said.

Lima Company sent 164 Marines to Iraq in March. Twenty-two Marines and one Navy corpsman were
killed in action.